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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25902955">And Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitsunePhantom09/pseuds/KitsunePhantom09'>KitsunePhantom09</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU-gust 2020, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Gen, general vampire fuckery, lots of characters but Yusei's the main focus, yet another prompt that's liable to become a full story one day, ygocollablove</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 08:36:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,527</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25902955</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitsunePhantom09/pseuds/KitsunePhantom09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rule #1: Never answer when you hear them knocking.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>AUgust 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>And Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Don’t answer when they come knocking.</p><p>It was Yusei’s new life mantra. Every time the sun began to set, Yusei chanted it in his head, over and over again. He repeated it out loud when they were actually there to drown them out. The small bathroom on the first floor of his house was his safe haven. No access to the outside, far enough from any windows and doors that the sounds could be ignored under his tiny speaker playing whatever music he came across. His phone had three alarms set for sunset; first warning, second warning, and five minutes before the exact time the sun vanished over the horizon.</p><p>For all their habits in life, his “friends” were sharply punctual in undeath. Always arriving as soon as the sun was off his doorstep. Once the vessels of a god of the sun, they were now creatures enslaved to the darkness of the night.</p><p>Yusei wanted to think of what remained as just monsters. Empty shells of their former selves, of the people he knew. Evil, manipulative beasts who would love nothing more than to pin him down and drain him of every last drop of his blood. He wanted to truly believe his friends were dead and terrible beings had stolen their faces, their voices, their personalities.</p><p>But he couldn’t, because deep down, they were still themselves. They still had their memories, recited things only they would have known to prove themselves to him. They spoke to him with a fondness and softness so genuine no monster could fake it. His friends were still in those bodies. His friends were still themselves.</p><p>And it hurt so, so, <b>so</b> goddamn much to let their pleas go ignored.</p><p>Every night, they came to his door and asked to be let in. In the youth of the darker hours, they were gentle. Gentle knocking, gentle words, gentle voices. His friends missed him terribly. They hated to be separated from him like this. They had endured so much together. They had relied on him so much, they wanted to finally return the favor. All he had to do was open the door and invite them back in.</p><p>Towards midnight, they would begin roaming around the house, peeking into and knocking on windows to get his attention. Their pleas would become more desperate, spoken faster and more often. They were so worried about him, about the way he locked himself away like he had. What did they do wrong? How could they fix it? They couldn’t fix what they didn’t know was broken! If they could come in, they could make everything right again!</p><p>When the night was waning and the sun was close once again, they became frantic and wild. They would slam their entire bodies into the doors, the windows, howling and begging just for the slightest acknowledgment. They wanted to hear his voice, even if it was just to deny them entry. They wanted to see his face, even if it bore a look of disgust and disappointment. They needed a sign, any sign, that he was still alive in there! <em>Please, please Yusei, just let us in!</em></p><p>Yusei never heeded their cries for him. It was all he could do to stay in the bathroom, wrapped in an old quilt and curled up in the bathtub with the music filling the space and his hands clamped over his mouth. All throughout the night, he wept silently, his body quaking violently with the stifled sobs. He didn’t want to be alone like this, but he had to survive. Letting them in would be suicide.</p><p>They wanted his blood. Craved it, yearned for it. He knew that. Every now and again, he’d catch them yelling at one another over it. Sometimes, they would tell him how hungry they were and beg for him to give them something, but the only thing that would satiate their hunger was running in his veins to give him life.</p><p>Sometimes…sometimes…</p><p>Sometimes, Yusei would be prepping himself to hide away in the bathroom, and his eyes would catch on something sharp. A knife, a razor, anything that could cut him deep. They were so hungry, had to be starved beyond belief; they always came straight to his door, never left until the sun forced them away. They didn’t hunt down the stupidly bold, didn’t try to manipulate the lonely and depressed. They always came to him. They were so hungry…</p><p>Once, Yusei had given in. At the first alarm, he cut along his arm, let himself bleed into a jar until he wobbled from the blood loss and set it on the doorstep. It was the only night since…since <b>then…</b>that Yusei had slept soundly. Whether it was because of the blood loss or the comfort helping them had brought him, he didn’t know. What he did know was that the night after, they sounded so happy. They knew it was his blood he’d given them, they knew its smell and taste by heart. He was still alive, he still cared for them!</p><p>That had been the hardest night to resist, so he hadn’t done it anytime after.</p><p>Some nights were fine. He tuned his ears to the music, sang along when he knew the lyrics, counted the blemishes on the ceiling for the umpteenth time, notice another tear on the quilt that he would have to mend during the day. Occasionally, he could entertain himself with an audio book. Put the headphones on and just drift with the words of the narrator.</p><p>Other nights were a waking nightmare. Every knock, scratch, thump they made echoed into the deepest recesses of Yusei’s mind. He felt so isolated, so guilty for ignoring them. He was their leader once, the person they looked up to. The one person each of them would have followed to the ends of the earth, would have walked into the depths of hell itself if he’d asked them to. But when they needed him the most, he locked them out and plugged his ears to their cries for help.</p><p>On the darkest nights, few and far between, Yusei felt the desire to let them in. To get up and throw the door open and let them have him. It would always take him by surprise, nearly overwhelm him in its intensity. Was it a desire to atone for what he was putting them through? Was it a desire to die and escape it all? Was it a desire to join them in their condition, to not have to be separate from them anymore? He didn’t know. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.</p><p>Every now and again, specific memories would surface in his mind, making him relive that horrible day. The day his friends got sick…and the day they all died. It was all rapidfire, one thing after another, too fast to process as it as happening and it slammed into him like a freight train when he finally had the chance to breathe.</p><p>Yusei had heard the news talking about a strange new illness cropping up around the globe. Symptoms of extreme fever, vertigo, vomiting. Blood-sucking parasites as carriers – ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, the usual sort. There hadn’t been any cases in New Domino, but he had went to prepare, just in case.</p><p>When he came back, Crow was pale, shaking, burning to the touch. Yusei made him drink a glass of water before putting him to bed, checking him over for bites or trespassers. A bug bite was on his neck, red and splotchy with a little bead of blood in the center.</p><p>Yusei prepped the house with sprays to scare the pests away, checking on Crow every half hour to make sure he was okay. He kept his eye on the news, mentally cataloging the symptoms as they were discovered. Fever, vertigo, vomiting, lethargy, muscle spasms, unexplained full-body pain, fits of uncontrollable anger. Each one sounded worse than the last and Yusei feared for Crow.</p><p>Then Jack finally came home, obviously ill as well but too proud to admit it as usual. He fought the fever and the dizziness, but Yusei drew the line when he started throwing up. He gave Jack much the same treatment as Crow – make sure he was hydrated before sending him to rest. Almost had to sit on him to keep him down, but it stuck eventually. Checked on them every half hour, gave them more water and checked their temperatures every hour.</p><p>Then the fatigue settled in. A bone-deep tiredness that sapped any and all energy out of Crow and Jack alike. Whatever fight the two had in them was gone in moments, but they were sleeping like rocks, so Yusei didn’t think he minded it too much. The more they slept, the faster they’d recover, after all.</p><p>Yusei remembered being called by Akiza, then the twins. Hearing they had spontaneously gotten sick and just wanted to hear his voice for comfort. He remembered being on a long call with them on the video screen so they could see him, noticing how tired and unwell they looked, the exhausted but content smiles they wore as Yusei spoke softly about anything and nothing. He wanted to tend to them as well, but bouncing between three different housing districts all day would exhaust him too, so this would have to do.</p><p>He remembered the screams.</p><p>The way Crow and Jack both thrashed and writhed as the agony spread like poison through their bodies. The way their voices deteriorated as they screamed for mercy, begged Yusei to just make it stop, to ease the pain even by a little. Yusei remembered feeling so terrified and helpless, unable to do anything but watch. He remembered the terrifying moments when the pains began to overwhelm Akiza, then Luna, and finally Leo, the way each feed would cut as their shrieks reached a fever pitch and their wild movements knocked into their devices.</p><p>His first instinct was to go to them, go see them in person, but what could he do for them? He was useless for Jack and Crow, what would a change in location or person give him? At any rate, the city was swiftly descending into total lockdown – no one was being allowed outside without a damn good reason, and anyone caught outside and sick were carted away to a “quarantine unit”.</p><p>So Yusei remained inside, trying his hardest to alleviate any of the pain. Every time he checked in on one, sat down beside them, he was clung to like a lifeline. Both would sob silently into his chest or his shoulder as their bodies trembled with the waves of pain. Their throats were raw, voices shot, and they always begged wordlessly for him to stay when he got up to check on the other.</p><p>Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The sun had set, risen, and set again before Yusei realized how tired he was. He was stumbling as he walked, blinking repeatedly as he tried to keep his vision from blurring too much. It was getting more and more difficult to pry himself away from Jack and Crow’s iron grips on his arms and waist. Any attempt to call Akiza or either twin was unsuccessful. It was noon when Yusei’s legs finally gave out on him. He slumped against the wall and slid down, passing out as soon as he hit the floor.</p><p>He woke suddenly to a stabbing pain in his neck, pressure on and around his wrists, something caging his body. Yusei squirmed, and as he woke up more and more, it felt like a sort of…sucking feeling on his neck where that pain was. He wrestled an arm free and brought a fist down on whatever was holding him prisoner, making it flinch away and release his neck. He clutched at his neck, turned to glare at his assailant and stopped dead.</p><p>Crow gazed back down at him with glowing red eyes, licking his lips to catch the red dripping from the corners. He opened his mouth as he leaned down again, and blood-coated fangs slid down into place like viper fangs. Crow was drinking his blood like a vampire.</p><p>Yusei couldn’t help it – he screamed. He thrashed wildly, firmly smacking Crow in the face and stunning him. He slid away from his friend turned monster and scrambled to his feet; lockdown be damned, he wasn’t going to die like this!</p><p>He didn’t make it far before something grabbed him from behind and pulled him back. It grabbed his arm and forced it to his side, revealing the weeping wound. Something sunk into it and the sucking sensation came back with a vengeance. Though his head was being held at an odd angle, Yusei knew Jack when he saw him.</p><p>Yusei repeated the process, screaming and struggling with everything he had. It was wearing down Jack’s grasp, but then Crow was on him again, sinking his fangs into the other side of his throat. Yusei shrieked like a banshee – he could feel himself getting weaker as more blood was drained from his veins.</p><p>Finally, Yusei’s arms came free and he jabbed them both just under the ribcage. They let him go to gasp and he bolted, applying pressure to both wounds as he did so. He could hear them give chase, hissing like angry snakes. The front door, it was right there! With bloodied hands, Yusei clawed at the knob, but the slickness didn’t let him turn it. He was yanked backwards again; was this how he would die? He flailed and fought furiously until he realized someone was shouting at him. Two someones. He opened his eyes.</p><p>Jack and Crow stared down at him, looking so worried and scared. “It’s okay,” they said. “It’s just us. You’re safe now.”</p><p>For several minutes, as the duo rushed to tend to his neck wounds, Yusei could hardly think. Didn’t they just attack him? Didn’t they just do their damnedest to drink him dry? What just happened? When the gauze was secured around his neck, they asked him questions. What was he running from? What happened to his neck? Why was he looking at them like that?</p><p>Yusei’s brain short-circuited. “Get out…” he whispered. They froze, staring at him with wide eyes. “Get out. Get out! <em>Get out!</em>” He repeated the demand over and over, yelling as he hugged his arms and curled in on himself. When the rush subsided, Yusei glanced up to find himself entirely alone.</p><p>And thus began the nightly ritual that haunted him so.</p><p> </p><p>The two weeks to follow that night were chaos. People being attacked and drank from, only for their attackers to have no recollection of doing so. They didn’t think they were anything other than human, other than who they were before they fell sick. Attempting to tell them the truth resulted in blank stares at best, or a quick spiral into an insane rage until their brain just expunged the conversation from itself at worst.</p><p>The turned, infected, vampires, whatever you wanted to call them now made up a third of the world’s population. They lived by the night, under the moon and stars; exposure to the sun melted them like candle wax, and they typically fell into an unbreakable torpor during the daylight hours anyway. It seemed like all of society had to shift and rearrange itself in response because the changed had no inclination to uphold the systems they once adhered to. It was so bizarre. Their behavior was contradictory but it allowed them to function. They so strongly believed they were normal, they were still who they were supposed to be, and yet they could discard any behavior and rule like it never mattered to them.</p><p>Two weeks, on the same day Yusei had banished them from the house, they came back. All five of them, changed for the absolute worst. When the shadows fell on his door, they were there, gently knocking. When Yusei opened the door, they smiled at him, two apologizing for whatever they’d done to scare him so badly. Yusei believed them; he didn’t want to be alone anymore, and the way the duo had reacted after…perhaps he’d imagined some part of it. His friends would never attack him like that, of course not. But there was some part of him that didn’t believe it was fantasy, and it didn’t let him invite them inside. So he stepped out to talk because he missed them, was worried about them, wanted to put this fear behind him.</p><p>In the time it took him to blink, he was set upon by a horde of red-eyed monsters. They grabbed him like vice grips, yanked him into the middle of their group, and latched on like demonic leeches. He screamed as the fangs were forced through clothing, even his thick gloves, to get to the blood beneath his skin. He hadn’t imagined anything – his “friends” were vampires. He had made the mistake of trying to make peace with them again and he was going to pay for it with his life.</p><p>His arm began to burn like someone had taken a welding tool at it, a precise burning that moved up, down, and across his right arm. Then, the burning cropped up in other areas – across his back, a spot on his lower back, his left shin, his right eye, the spot right above his heart. It all felt like someone was writing on him with a white-hot fire poker, carving into him, branding him. His eye felt like it was being crushed inside its socket. Something was welling up inside him. Something blisteringly hot and wild. Something…familiar?</p><p>The melodic roar of the Crimson Dragon filled Yusei’s mind, and when he screamed in tandem, everything around him <b>exploded</b>.</p><p>The monsters shrieked and released him. Yusei could only see from one eye, his left, and he watched them scramble away from him. Slowly, he flipped on to his stomach and crawled back into the house; every part of his body burned and ached. He got onto his knees, grabbing onto the door, and looked out one last time as a chorus of voices called out to him. He could see their the way the flesh had been boiled form their skulls, could see it reforming and reclaiming the exposed bone. It would look like nothing ever happened.</p><p>He slammed the door closed, collapsed against it, and fell unconscious.</p><p>When he woke again, the pain was reduced to just the six points around his body that insisted on throbbing. Shakily, Yusei forced his legs under him. His right eye could hardly see, but it was better than when the burning was happening. Passing the kitchen, he noted the bright noon sunlight. As he walked, he stripped himself of his bloodstained clothing until he was in nothing but his underwear – the only unblemished garment from the night.</p><p>The light of the small bathroom was harsh, and he whimpered when it struck his right eye. But he kept his hand off and gazed into the mirror. That right eye had changed drastically – his sclera was a vivid crimson, and his iris a glittering gold. Two yellow marks surrounded it, a smaller one fanning out below, the larger other sitting above and turning the right eyebrow blonde. He looked down.</p><p>Above his heart was the Heart of the Crimson Dragon, just the way he remembered seeing it on Leo’s arm. On his own arm was the Hand Claw, on his leg was the Talon. He turned from the mirror, craning his neck to see his back. The Wings were so much larger on his back and looked much more like folded dragon’s wings. Between the longest of the wing ribs was the Tail, nestled in the small of his back. Years had passed since the last time anyone had a mark of the Crimson Dragon, and now Yusei held all of them. The marks may have vanished, but the connection had remained, and it was through that connection that the Crimson Dragon saved him and marked him again as its own.</p><p>Why him? Why <b>only</b> him? Why didn’t the Dragon save the others, too? Why did it abandon his friends when they needed its help the most, but rescue him? If it had saved his friends, it wouldn’t have had to save him. Yusei’s eyes felt so hot, and it stung his right eye terribly, but he didn’t bother doing anything about it. There was no one to be strong for, no one to inspire, no one to comfort. So he wept.</p><p>He turned back to the mirror and stared at his reflection again. His left eye gave clear tears like water as his right eye leaked the red, viscous fluid the monsters outside stole from him. Had the Crimson Dragon truly saved him, or had it damned him further? Either way, it was asking for his help again, asking him to stay alive for a new purpose.</p><p>It was better than not having one at all.</p>
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